Part of the answer is in the way the names on the war memorials were collected. After the war the local community was asked to supply the names of relatives from the community who had been killed. Sometimes names were supplied of men who had not been killed but who were reported missing, other times the man simply did not return home for one reason or another and the fiends and relatives presumed him killed.

A further misunderstanding added further names. Some communities commemorated everyone from the village/town who had taken part in the war, others only the men who were killed. Further complications arose when the memorial was for a works or mine where men from other areas were also commemorated.